'Unnecessary care': Leaked video shows UnitedHealth chief defending company’s denials

After Brian Thompson — the CEO of health insurance titan UnitedHealthcare — was shot to death on a New York City sidewalk by a gunman who is still on the lam, the head of the company's parent organization was seen defending the company's business practices.

Journalist Ken Klippenstein posted to Bluesky on Friday that he had obtained a leaked video from an unnamed UnitedHealth employee of Andrew Witty, who is the CEO of UnitedHealth Group. He lauded Thompson as a great leader for the company, saying: "There are very few people in the history of the U. S. healthcare industry who had a bigger positive effect on American healthcare than Brian [Thompson]." He also appeared to stand up for the company's 32% claim denial rate, which LendingTree's ValuePenguin found is twice the industry average of 16%.

"And we are going to make sure that we not only acknowledge and honor that legacy of Brian, but we'll continue it," he added. "Our role is a critical role. And we make sure that care is safe, appropriate and it's delivered when people need it. We guard against the pressures that exist for unsafe care, or for unnecessary care."

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The company has been under fire recently, after being accused in a lawsuit of using an AI called "nH Predict" to automatically deny claims filed by elderly patients, even though it had a 90% error rate. Tech publication Arstechnica noted that the company is alleged to have viewed the 90% error rate as a "feature, not a bug."

"I would have been happy to send my condolences after the UnitedHealthcare CEO was killed this afternoon, however unfortunately sympathy requires a prior authorization and I have to deny that request," one TikTok user said in a viral response to Thompson's death.

UnitedHealthcare's denials have become a key source of anger toward the heath insurance industry at large in the wake of Thompson's assassination early Wednesday morning. CNN reported that there's been a "bubbling up of pent up anger" at the industry's pattern of denying critical healthcare procedures while posting record profits. And so far, the NYPD's efforts to enlist the general public in tracking down the shooter have proved mostly fruitless.

"[Americans] don’t really empathize with who the victim is in this scenario," Sukrit Venkatagiri, an assistant professor of computer science at Swarthmore College, told NBC News.

READ MORE: 'Pent up anger' at health insurance industry explodes on social media after CEO shooting

Watch the video of Witty below, or by clicking this link.